Escape Route (Decode Sequel)

The End - At Last...

Lennon.

The word surprise left me feeling uneasy with a mix of excitement thrown in. The envelope was thin, there was no object inside; no ring, which was the first thought that crossed my mind. The second was; I could easily be wrong and his idea of romance is an envelope rather than a velvet box.

It wasn't thick enough to be anything like plane tickets, in reality it felt almost empty. The presence of another piece of paper inside barely noticeable until I held it up to the light. 

His legs were bouncing up and down with anticipation as I sat there, pretending to examine it to wind him up even more. It was working pretty well, I could see the lines of his brow becoming deeper the harder he stared. His hands clasped tightly together underneath his chin. I grinned at him only to receive a stern glare in response. His mood could change with a flick of a switch, most of the time it was highly amusing, even alluring dare I say.

I was aware I was building it up more and more with every drawn out second passing. It might not have even been something of substantial greatness, in fact it could have been something completely pointless like a voucher for a two for one meal at the pub down the road. 

"Are you going to put me out of my misery anytime soon?" He sighed heavily, growing even more impatient. I was starting to worry that I wouldn't like what ever was inside and then had to figure out a way to look grateful, almost the same look you have to make when everyone at Christmas buys you bath sets, after the third one it's hard to muster a smile to some extent.

"Hmm, I think I might get a cup of tea first," I joked but he looked less than pleased and reached to grab the envelope from my hand, but I was too fast and swiftly pulled it away from his reach. "Ah ah ah" I teased. 

Deciding I had to put him out of his misery and I couldn't really drag out the suspense any longer, I finally slid my finger carefully under the envelope seal, fully aware that most times I do this a paper cut occurs. Luck was on my side today and I managed to get inside without breaking any skin. 1-0 to Lennon. 

I glanced one last time at his wide, expecting eyes before mine flicked down to the single sheet of paper in front of my eyes. It didn't have exactly much detail on it at all, in fact it had a few sentence typed on it. I paused for a slight hmm, before I actually read the details. 

"Is this real?" I asked as soon as I scanned over the small sentences several more times.

"If you want it to be. I mean, I know it's nothing amazing and it's not the New York Times or whatever, but I thought you would enjoy it, I know how much writing means to you." 

"I don't care if it's the bloody local newsletter, someone out there is going to read my work." I beamed, the paper in my hands shaking from excitement. "How did they? How do they know who I am?" I couldn't even form proper sentences I was in too much shock.

"I might have photocopied your notebook with all your stories and notes in, they loved it. In fact they've already put one of your mini-stories in their upcoming issue?"

"What?" I spluttered. "How did you even know I liked Crave magazine?" He looked at me with a 'what the fuck' look etched on his face.

"You leave copies lying around all the time, one fell out of the cereal cupboard and hit me square in the face the other day." I stifled a laugh at his scrunched up face as he recalled the memory. "What was it even doing in there?"

"I did wonder where I put that down, I was going to read it with my breakfast, mystery solved." I chuckled. Harry shook his head, grinning widely at me when he stopped. 

"You're bonkers, you know that?"

"Bonkers but officially employed now." I smirked. 

"The CEO, Geoff, I think he name is? Yeah, Geoff sounds about right." He paused to collect his thoughts. "He said he wants to meet you in person properly on Monday, so I'm afraid you're gonna have to go back to London for a couple hours."